


The Night is Long and Dark and Deep

by MagpieWendigo



Category: Hannibal (TV), Polar (2019), The Long Dark (Video Game)
Genre: M/M, Survival, Survival Training, Wilderness Survival, canadian?, i never know what tags to use send help, neo post apocalyptic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2019-09-06
Packaged: 2020-10-11 06:10:15
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,206
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20541389
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MagpieWendigo/pseuds/MagpieWendigo
Summary: Cold, alone. amidst the Quiet Apocalypse, Will Graham is adapting to his new life of solitude and survival when he receives an unexpected visitor.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> this first chapter originally started as a random twitterfic and enough people seemed interested that i decided to make it a real thing. thanks, babes! ;)

Will ran a hand over his face, and heard more than felt his winter-rough palm scrape along the stubble on his cheeks. His hair was getting long too, and as he tucked a stray curl back into his beanie, he cursed himself for not getting a haircut before the blizzard hit. He replaced his gloves and shook his hands to get the blood flowing before reaching for the ax again. Each swing at the chopping block echoed loudly in the white, snowy silence. 

Will enjoyed the manual labor- it had been three weeks without power now, and chopping firewood had become one of his favourite ways to pass the time. He paused for a moment to catch his breath, casting his gaze out across the frozen lake. A fishing hut sat on the ice, a few hundred yards beyond the dock. He planned on spending the night there tonight, tending a low-burning fire and a hole in the ice if he wanted anything to eat after the food he looted from the nearby empty cabins ran out. With a sigh, he stacked the last of the morning’s logs in the small lean to shed, but held onto the axe. It would be his first night out on the ice tonight, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t nervous... earlier, he could have sworn he heard wolves.

The droning hum he heard now felt more like tinnitus, so faint even in the clear, quiet air. At first he thought he was imagining things, but no… it sounded like… an engine?? Then, a distant explosion followed by rumbling. Wolves momentarily forgotten, Will glanced around wildly, looking for the source of the sound. It shook him up more than it probably should have, but after nearly a month of almost perfect silence, the sudden noise struck a harsh contrast in his mind. Perfectly cloudless as far as the eye could see, Will knew this was not thunder, nor was it a falling tree or breaking ice further inland... there was a distinctly mechanical sound to it. He ignored the sour taste of fear that rose in his throat when he saw a cloud of thick, black smoke begin snaking up from somewhere near the peak of the mountain that towered above his little lake. The climb wasn’t too difficult, by now he’d made it up and down the mountain a few times and knew the route fairly well. But it would still take him a good few hours to get up there, and what if… hopefully… he found someone alive up there? Would they be in any condition to walk, let alone climb? It was worth the risk, he thought. Running back to his cabin, Will grabbed his climbing gear and meager first aid findings, slipped the axe into a loop on his pack, and set out for the summit.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Duncan arrives, and Will climbs a mountain.

By now the plane was too close to the mountains to risk jumping. Dusk crept in early like it always did in the deep of winter, with a slow, rich, violet shade, everything covered in untouched snow turning blue in the shadow cast by the cliffs along the coast. Duncan had time to wonder if his equipment had been sabotaged as he did his best to control the descent of his small biplane. With only one functioning engine and intact wing the plane began to roll to the side, ripping through evergreens and shredding what remained of the fuselage. Duncan closed his eyes, relaxing his body and preparing for impact. 

“One last job,” Vivian had begged him. “Just one more.” 

He should have said no. 

\---

Hand over hand, Will dragged himself up the final length of rope, arms and legs and lungs on fire. Sweating this much in the freezing cold was bad news, but he couldn’t risk a single second in getting to whatever, or whoever, might be up there. He had supplies to build a fire, and knew there was an empty cave nearby with a small stash of non-perishables he’d left behind on a previous climb. Sometimes he would come up here for a change of scenery, pretend he was king of the world, the last man on earth. For all he knew, maybe he was. Pausing only for a few, sharp, painful gulps of air, Will trudged on through the snow towards the pillar of smoke. Scraps of metal and plastic peppered the snow. Here, a wheel, aluminum pipe, even some boxes that looked like cargo crates. Will made a mental note to come back and check those later. 

The few trees that had managed to survive life on the summit now lay bent and splintered, smouldering around the crumpled remains of a small airplane. Much of the dry winter wood had caught fire with the plane’s impact, melting deep pockets into the surrounding snow. 

“Hello?” Will called, still breathless, approaching the wreckage. “Is anyone there? Are you okay?” He peered into the cockpit and saw no bodies, only blood. “Hello?!” Will’s voice fell flat in the thin mountaintop air. Soaked with sweat, panting, the young man kept searching and calling, afraid of what he might find. Or might not find. For the briefest moment he had allowed himself the hope of a companion, but as he searched his excitement died along with the flames, leaving him as bleak and blackened as the charcoaled trees. 

A small amount of extra daylight had been gained in climbing to the mountain’s peak. Pushing through his exhaustion, Will continued to look until the sun had set and he was forced to retire to the shelter of his nearby cave. It was nothing more than a shallow alcove, but it served as decent protection against the wind and snow, especially if you could get a fire going at the very back. Will gave into his mounting despair, allowing himself to cry, alone, in the mouth of the cave. He hadn’t felt like this since the morning he’d woken up, dazed, behind the wheel of his car, buried in snow. Buried alive. He’d been able to roll down the window and dig his way out, only to discover a whole length of car-sized snow mounds scattered across what had once been a rural highway. 

“This was supposed to be just a simple fishing trip,” he grumbled into his gloved hands. “Fuck!” As he had grown accustomed to the silent monotony of daily survival it hadn’t really occurred to him that it might be like this forever. Often preferring his own company to that of any others, Will hadn’t even noticed how lonely he’d become until the chance of finding another person had failed to deliver. He dropped his pack and collapsed onto the cold stone, removing his beanie to wipe at the sweat and tears on his face. He felt like a fool. 

In his frantic, exhausted searching, Will had not noticed the trail of blood speckled snow that lay near the mouth of the cave. In the fading light he had assumed it was just ash that had tumbled from the half-burned tree that stood nearby. He was too caught up in his own head to hear the faint panting coming from the back of the cave. 

**Author's Note:**

> there's going to be at least few chapters to this, i don't have anything super specific planned out just yet but i'm a sucker for kaisergram soooo #yolo


End file.
